Power Supply Selection

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FlyingHigh85

FlyingHigh85

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Aug 12, 2013
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I'm building a budget computer that will only be used to play Microsoft's Flight Simulator X (aka FSX).

Some of the components I've chosen for the build so far are:

AMD A6-6400K APU

ASRock FM2A75M-DGS R2.0 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBX

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

Now I need to choose a PSU. I visited Proximon's "list of recommended PSUs" on this site and one of the recommended PSUs was the Antec VP-450. It goes for $40 on newegg.com. Would this be an OK PSU for my build, or should I go for something else?
 
Solution
babernet_1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139049&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Here's a Corsair 430W that is of good quality and semi-modular at $10 off for $40.

I'd say this 430W is the absolute bottom of power. A 500W would be nice and give you a bit of breathing room.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139050&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
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babernet_1

babernet_1

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May 8, 2012
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139049&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Here's a Corsair 430W that is of good quality and semi-modular at $10 off for $40.

I'd say this 430W is the absolute bottom of power. A 500W would be nice and give you a bit of breathing room.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139050&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
 
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Solution
Dark Lord of Tech

Dark Lord of Tech

Retired Moderator
Aug 18, 2009
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Power Supply: Enermax 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $34.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-12 16:41 EDT-0400)


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $29.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-12 16:42 EDT-0400)
 
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FlyingHigh85

FlyingHigh85

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Aug 12, 2013
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Thanks for the help.

As of now, I think I'm going to go with the CORSAIR CX430M 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply suggested by babernet_1. 430W should be plenty of power for me. The Corsair name seems to have the respect of many computer builders and I like that it is modular. I also like that it is 80-plus-certified.

I was tempted by the XFX 550W PSU suggested by SR-71 Blackbird, but it's not modular. I think there are going to be a lot of wires I'm not going to use (no discrete video card, only 1 hard drive). I also noticed that a few of the reviewers at newegg that gave this PSU only 1/5 "eggs" said that customer service was crap when their psu failed while under warranty.

I realize that my build won't require much power, but I'd rather have more than enough power than barely enough. I may also want to upgrade in the near future (6-months to a year) with a higher performance APU (like the A10-6800K), a discrete gpu, a couple more hard drives, and additional cooling if I decide to overclock.
 
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FlyingHigh85

FlyingHigh85

Honorable
Aug 12, 2013
37
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10,540
I didn't mention this before, but this is my first "build," so I'm still on the steep part of the learning curve. For now, I'll just stick with the a6-6400k without a discrete gpu. In a year or so, when I'm ready to upgrade, I'll sell this tower and upgrade to something like the i5-3570K with a decent discrete gpu.

I read on this site that AMD is supposed to release a new APU early next year (the "Kaveri") that has a FM2+ socket-type. I also read on this website that ASUS just released the first FM2+ socket-type motherboards (the Asus A88XM-A and A55BM-A/USB3 micro-ATX motherboards). The FM2+ socket is supposed to be compatible with the FM2 socket-type APUs (like the "Richland"). I'm holding off buying a FM2 motherboard now so that I can buy a FM2+ in case I want to upgrade to a "Kaveri" APU in the future. I just hope these FM2+ socket-type motherboards will be available soon. I read that they've been "launched," I'm just not sure how long it will be until they're available for sale to the public.

Right now, I'm at ~$335 for this build for all the hardware (I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse). Then I have to add an additional 25% to this price just for the Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. I wish this was a bit cheaper.
 
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